So Much to Fill You in On!

So here's another attempt at a recap-- it has been SUPER busy around here lately, but I've been keeping track of the things I want to share with you. So here goes:

7.23.08
Today we took the kids to Harper's Ferry: a quaint historical town about an hour from Winchester. It has a lot of Civil War history, and is a beautiful example of renewal: the town became a large industrial center many, many years ago, and has since reverted back to a green space, allowing the factories and plants that once brought in commerce to be replaced by a natural park, by trees which grow and give life to the area and which surround the beautiful rivers that flow through the city.

A kind, energetic woman named SueAnne lives in Harper's Ferry and jumped at the chance to take the day off work and show the kids around. SueAnne has been working with the youth group at Amor y Paz for many years now. She and Pastora Martha go way back-- they even lived together for a fews years in Alexandria.

Although the weather was less-than-obliging for our outdoor excursion (the gray skies hid the sun and sent down showers nearly all day) SueAnne was not deterred. She's got to be one of the most optimistic people I've ever met-- she pulled me aside at one point and, with a large smile, explained that she didn't mind the rain: "It's just one more element of nature to see and experience if you ask me!" she exclaimed.

I nodded my head, smiled, and ran down to the local Dollar Tree to get my kids ponchos. :)

We spent the day exploring the town's museums, eating soft serve from a local ice cream shop, and hiking along the Shenandoah River. The kids enjoyed climbing on the rocks, looking at the ducks, talking with some canoers that passed by-- all in all it was a wonderful day (which was only further confirmed on the drive home: About halfway through our trip, I wondered at the silence that had overtaken the van. I looked behind me to see fifteen tiny bodies, all bundled up and fast asleep: the sure sign of a fun, adventurous day).

After dropping off each of our tired, thankful kids, Pastora Martha and I returned to the church for Bible Study. We've been doing a study with the members from Montague UMC (including my supervisor, Pauline, and her husband, as well as Linda, the funniest, wittiest, most down to earth woman I know, and a few other church members that have become like family to me over the summer).

It's been so nice to sit in a room full of adults and to feel as though I'm soaking up their wisdom. We discussed the story of the Good Samaritan, and ways we could be more open, responsive, and helpful to those around us. As we talked, we ate a wonderful meal Linda had prepared for us. There really is something about sitting around a table and talking about the faith together. What a special, holy time these Bible Studies have become for me this summer. I only hope to return home and to continue to involve myself in the type of fellowship and discussion that I've been able to partake in here.

After cleaning up after the meal, and talking with Pastor Pete and his wife Betty-Anne for awhile, Pastora Martha and I returned home, where we each showered, changed into our pajamas, and curled into bed. :)

7.24.08
Another great day at the pool with the kids. Today I taught Magdelina and Jovena how to do handstands and flips in the water-- they spent the rest of the day perfecting their moves and calling to me: "Miss Nicole! Miss Nicole! Watch!" I enjoyed watching and encouraging them-- I love the way kids are completely uninhibited in voicing the things we all wish we could shout at the top of our lungs sometimes:

"Look over here!"
"Am I doing an okay job?"
"I could use some encouragement, praise, help!"

If only we adults hadn't fallen into the habit of covering up the places we feel incsecure about, the areas of our lives we could use help, or direction, or even a little bit of praise. Maybe then we'd be able to just call out to anyone nearby:

"Look over here! Could you help me with this?"

Perhaps, with openness and vulnerability like children, we'd rely on one another so much more completely, and we'd allow others to care for us, and to teach us, and encourage us, and serve us, and to be Jesus for us. (just some of the things my kids have got me thinking about this summer..)

7.25.08
What a wonderful morning I had today. I walked into town: tennis shoes on my feet, backpack over my shoulders, smile on my face, the presence of God swarming all around me in a way I could practically see, and hear, and touch.

I spent the morning and early afternoon sipping some of the smoothest coffee I've ever had, reading the Scriptures in ways I never had before, exploring the tiny shops that line downtown Winchester, absorbing Anne Lamott's words and insights in the Handly Library, and finding cute trinkets to bring home to my family in just over a week's time.

It was one of those mornings in which I felt God's closeness in such a way that everything about the day tasted better, smelt better, looked more beautiful, more complete, more alive.

I returned home later in the day feeling entirely refreshed-- every part of me excited to be alive and to be living and serving in Winchester.

That night Pastora Martha and I went to a meeting for local Hispanic pastors. Though I was the only white/non-Spanish speaking person in the building, I was welcomed with hugs, and smiles, and even some kisses on the cheek.

After introducing ourselves to the fifteen other people in the building, we took our seats, sang praises to God in Spanish, and listened to a sermon that, though I'm still a LONG way off from speaking Spanish fluently, I felt as though I connected with and understood every word of. I found myself nodding along with the stout little pastor who spoke. At times I got butterflies at his deeply Costa Rican accented words; my eyes filled with tears when he got choked up during a particularly moving story; a smile broke across my face when he became excited and animated about the promises of the faith-- when we finally bowed our heads at the end of the ninety minute sermon, I knew I had partaken in something so holy-- I was finally beginning to see and experience, firsthand, the way God is not contained in a certain race, or social class, nation, or language. Oh to experience God amidst people I'm so distinct from and yet so related to, to sing to God in Spanish, to hear God spoken of in a foreign tongue-- it's all more rich and more beautiful than I can ever begin to express.

It's just that God has always "spoken" to me in English. God has always said, "Nicole, I love you. Nicole, you are my child. Nicole, follow me." And tonight God's voice seemed to whisper in my ear in the most beautiful, earth-shattering way: "Nicole, te amo. Nicole, tu eres my hija. Nicole, sigame."

It was this incredible moment in which I thought in this dumb, naive way.. "God? You speak Spanish?!" ..only to come to the realization that God is speaking right now in Spanish, in English, in Greek, and Arabic, and German, and French-- in every langauge in existence and in ways that don't even fit within a language's expanses. God is speaking in the wind. God is speaking in the trees, the ocean, the hills. God is speaking in the people around me, in the love I have for them, and in the faces of Jovena, and Magdelina, and all the children I see and interact with everyday.

What a blessing to have my eyes rubbed with mud and opened to the broadness of God. I am ever in awe of the God who keeps breaking down my perceptions and giving me new, more open (even bilingual) ones. :)

7.26.08
(To be continued between packing, reflecting, and saying see you later..)